APL (Ajiken Power Lunch)

Thursday, 15th of May, 12:00 to 1:15 p.m.

IDE-JETRO C23 Meeting Room

Negative externalities undermine collective reputation. Despite recent empirical attention to the impact of collective reputation on economic activities, very little is known about the effects of the reputational loss on input decision-making of suppliers. We document the reputational loss in the context of a sensational issue that affected the Japanese agrarian sector in 2011 due to the Fukushima Nuclear Accident. Using farm household-level agricultural census and a difference-in-differences approach, we identify substantial reputational impacts on non-contaminated areas within Fukushima prefecture. Our findings suggest that the reputational loss reduces the adoption of high-value-added agricultural practices, such as eco-friendly farming, even when product safety is assured. Finally, the results indicate that the land rental market plays an adaptive role in response to the Fukushima nuclear accident.

Masanori Matsuura

Masaru Nagashima